The field of the invention is illustrated by the following example. Previously, floor tilings were bonded to their rigid support, such as a slab of reinforced concrete, by a cement or adhesive cement. Thus, they were subjected to variations in dimensions of said rigid support due to thermal expansions or contractions. Such floor tilings all result unsightly cracks. Moreover, the rigid bond is not such as to obtain satisfactory sound insulation between a floor tiling and its support.
In order to concomitantly eliminate the cracks and obtain adequate sound insulation, the idea has been formed, according to the invention, of interposing between the tiling, or more generally a floor covering, and the rigid support thereof, an insulating material adapted to avoid the transmission both of the variations in dimensions of the support and of sound waves to said floor covering.
It is therefore a first object of the invention to provide a material adapted to be used when making a floor in a building construction.
Certain materials intended for sound insulation are already known, but do not always have the desired efficiency. For example, with two-layer materials, namely an upper bituminous layer and the a lower layer of the glass wool type, it is observed that, in service, the glass wool is crushed, consequently producing bridges transmitting sound by the rough parts of the rigid support which come into contact with the upper bituminous layer. In addition, such a material does not allow satisfactory bonding of a tiling or the like, due to the absence of consistency of the lower layer.
It is precisely a first object of the invention to propose a building material which produces a flooring able to conserve its outer appearance for a long time and allow high-quality sound insulation to be obtained. In addition, this material must, of course, be relatively thin (maximum thickness of between 3 and 5 mm) in order to be effectively usable in the production of floorings, i.e., it must be notably thinner than certain multi-layer materials intended for heat-insulation, of which the thickness exceeds 10 mm and can reach up to 60 to 100 mm.